A Starbucks worker first spotting the body outside the location on 145th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem around 6 a.m. Thursday.
[Ads /]
The employee rushed to the building next door and alerted the doorman, who called 911.
"I was on my way to school and was coming up the block and saw all the cops and ambulances," witness Christopher Brown said. "It was crazy. I know the Starbucks workers were all standing there in shock."
Authorities said the man, identified as 27-year-old Anthony Lewis, Anthony, was fully clothed and may have had wounds to his head.
"We have some potential wounds to the head, the medical examiner is on scene, and we'll have to wait for an official autopsy," NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said. "We'll go from there."
The victim was not carrying identification and was wearing gray sweatpants and a T-shirt, and the body was wrapped in a plastic bag inside the carpet.
It appears the body was left there, police said, and the medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
[Ads /]
A red shopping cart located nearby is of interest, as investigators believe it was used to carry the body up the hill to the location where it was dumped.
Sources tell Eyewitness News that surveillance video shows two people pushing that shopping cart up the avenue with what looks like a body inside.
And just around the corner, police focused on an apartment building -- specifically the first floor -- although it's not yet clear what it may have to do with the murder investigation.
The investigation is ongoing.
----------
* More Manhattan news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube